


The House Always Wins

by lost_spook



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 13:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: The Master and Liz, on a mission to save the Doctor (maybe)...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Justice_Turtle (Curuchamion)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curuchamion/gifts).



> Written for the Genremixer prompt: Delgado!Master / Liz Shaw - betting & pretend couple & secret identity discovered

“I hope you’re right about the Doctor being in here,” said Liz Shaw, once they were inside the casino. “If this is just some evil scheme of yours, I’ll have you know I have a very sharp paper knife somewhere about my person.”

The Master gave a passing patron a smile. “Noted, my dear,” he murmured. “However, you may reassure yourself on that score: I have learned to be acutely aware of the activities of the Doctor. For the sake of my own self-preservation, you might say.”

“What was he doing here, anyway?” said Liz, and then gave a sigh. “No, don’t tell me, the proprietor isn’t merely a money-grabbing low-life, he’s also an alien?”

The Master gave a tiny inclination of his head in response. “Indeed. And taking a rather interesting form of payment from those unfortunate enough to find themselves in debt to the house.”

“Dare I ask what?”

“Blood is only the least of it,” he murmured. “The deals vary, but they have included everything from close relatives to internal organs as well as much-valued possessions – and, what has no doubt alerted those clodhoppers at UNIT – blackmail of those in suitably placed positions of power.”

Liz set her mouth. “I see. Well, then, they must be stopped, even if we are too late to help the Doctor.”

“I agree.”

She gave him a sharp glance. “I wouldn’t have thought you would have minded what some alien did to any of us?”

“I don’t. Not in the slightest, my dear – but I find myself violently opposed to it when it gets in the way of one of my own ‘evil schemes’, as you so charmingly put it a moment ago.”

“Fair enough,” said Liz. “Where do you think they’ll be keeping him?”

The Master held up a hand. “For that, I believe, we must penetrate the inner sanctum. And first, we must be willing to take any stakes.”

“Aren’t they likely to be looking for a particular kind of person, not just anyone who wonders in and shows an interest?”

The Master smiled. “Two eminent scientists such Dr Elizabeth Shaw and the renowned Professor Masters? Why do you think I required your assistance?”

“Fine,” said Liz, smoothing down her long, silver-coloured gown. “Let’s hope our luck holds out, then.”

“Professor,” said the Proprietor, crossing over to meet them. He didn’t look particularly alien, only middle-aged and slightly too large for his dinner jacket. “And Dr Shaw! We are most honoured. Please, follow me.”

Liz and the Master exchanged a glance and then did so, arm in arm. Out in the corridor, away from the opulent trappings of the main casino, the man – alien – turned. He was holding a gun.

“Ah,” said the Master. “And I heard so much about your excellent hospitality – I see it was exaggerated.”

Liz grimaced. “I have a feeling our cover’s been blown.”

“Whatever gave you that idea, Dr Shaw?”

“Call it instinct honed by years of research. That and the fact he’s pointing a weapon at us.”

 

“Well,” said the Doctor when they joined him in his cell shortly after, “I must say it’s good of you to pop in and say hello, old fellow. I was getting bored in here by myself. And Liz! Lovely to see you again, my dear, although I can’t say I approve of the company you’re keeping these days.”

Liz leant back against the wall. “I don’t suppose either of you alien geniuses have got a way out of this?”

After rather long-winded protests from both of them, she decided to assume that was a no, and shifted her position. “Then it’s just as well that I have a very sharp paper knife concealed about my person, isn’t it?”

“It’s unaccountable,” said the Master to the Doctor, “but I believe I’m growing to like this one.”


End file.
